He was here in 2011 helping us celebrate 150 years of Kansas! Adults and Children, come to the library and be entertained by musician and storyteller, Jeff Davidson, with songs, historical facts and pictures. He will lead you through the history of Kansas, from the time of Coronado through the second decade of statehood. You will travel the plains with early explorers, drive spikes on the first railways, plow in new ground, ride the pony express, and stop a stampeding herd. Set back and hang on, forging the state of Kansas was not for the faint of heart.

Combining a unique blend of songs, Kansas historical facts and pictures honoring the development of the great 34th state — Jeff Davidson revisits the history of Kansas, and its tremendous influence on western U.S. history.

Born during the most precarious time in U.S. history, Kansas is the most unique of the 50 states. It became a state during the era of the Pony Express, just three months prior to the official beginning of the Civil War. It was the first of the “Great American Desert” to become a state, but became the “breadbasket of the world” within 50 years of statehood. As eastern settlement reached the Missouri River, it was Kansas that was “Across the Wide Missouri”, the beginning of the west, the first of the Final Frontier, and virtually all of western U.S. history has a Kansas connection.

As famous Kansan William Allen White once noted, “If anything is going to happen in the country, it will happen in Kansas first.” Kansas was host to early explorers who traversed through Kansas as they explored the vast Louisiana Purchase, to traders on the Santa Fe Trail, to pioneers on the Oregon Trail, to the pre Civil War “border war” and the post Civil War cattle drives which created the greatest American hero – the cowboy. From wagon trains to four lanes, from cow trails to contrails, Kansas has been, and still is on the leading edge of western U.S. settlement.

Coming to McCune Friday, January 19, 2018 @ 6:30 P.M.

Brought to you by the McCune Osage Township Library

Program to be in the Frank D. Dunnick Hall

Jeff Davidson, a former square dance caller, entertained for the Flint Hills Overland Wagon Train for 25 years. Jeff is also employed as a KSU Research & Extension Agricultural Agent in Greenwood County, Eureka, Kansas. www.jeffdavidsonmusic.com